Friday, March 8, 2013

Valentine's Day 2013

It's our 6th Valentine's Day together!!!

Valentine's Day is pretty much a marketing gimmick to me, and I've honestly never been the type to go for flowers or a candlelight dinner. Especially since YZ and I have been together for more than half a decade now (our 5th anniversary was last August!)

This was us during our first Valentine's Day together, in 2008. Hehe. Dug out these photos from my old blog!! How time flies! I was only 21 years old then. I know, YZ looks scarily round here :X (That's what I call true love. Muahahaha) And I looked different with short hair too!

I don't blog that much about the boyfriend, because like I've mentioned before, this space isn't really all that private and sometimes I'm a little loath to give up the more personal parts of my life for public scrutiny.

YZ and I actually met at The Ark Music Cafe (木船民歌餐厅) back in 2007. You know, those bubble tea and food cafes that had live mandarin music gigs? Back then, YZ was helping a friend out and part-time managing at the cafe, while I was quite involved in my pop music school, taking pop vocal lessons. So what happened was that the music cafe organised a singing competition, which many of my music schoolmates took part in, and thus I ended up spending many evenings at the cafe to "support" my schoolmates.

I didn't take part in the competition by the way. Hahaa. According to YZ, he didn't notice me at first, until that fateful night that we bumped into each other at the same kopitiam: I was having supper with my schoolmates while he was having supper with some of the other staff from the cafe.

We ended up having supper together in one big group that night! Then, YZ kind of just casually asked me if I had any feedback regarding how the competition was being organised and run, probably only out of politeness or perhaps for lack of a mutual topic, and I basically bombarded him with a thousand and one criticisms and feedback (me being extremely vocal and straightforward...) and I think he was quite taken aback. I mean, it being the first time we even had a conversation and all HAHAHA. Of course he didn't say anything to me that night, but in his head, he was thinking like, 哇。。。这个女孩子, 要小心!

A precious relic from those days, didn't take as many photos back then! We went out for supper very often in a big group, and I think YZ kind of slowly developed an interest in me because of my straight forward and outspoken personality... And he said he liked my looks too, but it was my personality that attracted him first. Oh and also, that was the time right after I had just successfully lost about 10kg as well :X Guess that probably helped. Hahaha.

Us fooling around with the KTV system at the cafe after closing hours! We then discovered that each other could sing and I think that was like super 加分 for him he says he likes talented girls HAHAHA.

Before YZ, I hadn't seriously dated anyone before. So when YZ started to express interest in me, I was pretty hesitant about it at first, and I wasn't certain if I wanted to enter a relationship with him. I think I had a bit of a relationship phobia as well, but one of the best things about YZ is his completely honest nature. He's like an open book and his actions and emotions are extremely easy to read. There was no manipulation or any mind games, nothing but his sincerity and liking for me. Either that, or he is just SO good at this manipulation thing that I got duped very easily. Haha not sure which one.

We spent many late nights out over supper, or at the sea side just chatting and getting to know each other better. One night while we were sitting in silence at one of the tide breakers and enjoying the sea breeze, my phone suddenly beeped with a message from YZ who was just two feet away from me, and the message said... "Can I hold your hand?"

Lol.

I really didn't know how to react, so I just looked at him, laughed and asked him what I was supposed to say to that, and he just grabbed hold of my hand and didn't let go, and probably 暗爽-ed and did a victory dance inside. Hahaha. And that was the start of our relationship.

We've been together for almost six years now, and I still find it amazing how quickly time flies. We've been through a fair bit in the past five over years, and we are definitely not the perfect couple (I really don't think there's such a thing as a perfect relationship). He's got his temper and I can be extremely stubborn at times, and there's been times when we've both felt just so damn frustrated with each other.

But at the end of the day, I've realized that a relationship isn't just about love, it's about effort and compromises and a whole load of honest, open communication. It's about taking the time to hear each other out, understanding what the other party needs, and wanting to make things work. It's about appreciating the little things, and not taking each other for granted.

:)

We don't usually celebrate Valentine's Day, but last year didn't end off so well for us, and this year is somewhat of a fresh start for our relationship, so I know YZ earnestly wanted this day to be a simple but special one for the two of us :)

And YZ tried to spring surprises on me... twice!!!
The first surprise was after lunch, he tricked me by telling me he lost my camera and left it in the toilet (what a lousy excuse and I didn't quite believe it) and then popped up with a huge wrapped box that was damn heavy! I was clueless and couldn't guess what he got for me until he gave me really obvious hints.. he got me a pair of rollerblades!! And he got a pair for himself too, hehe. He says this present is for us to have fun and keep fit together, because he thinks that we will enjoy roller-blading together.

The second surprise was a little bouquet of roses that was personally delivered in the arms of Chip the chipmunk, with a love letter too :) Same excuse about losing something except this time round it was his phone that was "accidentally" on-purpose left in the car so he could go back to the car in order to get the bouquet to surprise me during dinner. Haha.

I'm really not the best at expressing how I feel, but thank you for everything!
:)
For showering me with your love and care, for your assurances that I'm the most beautiful girl in your eyes, for doing your best to curb that bloody bad temper of yours, for trying so damn hard to make everything work, for refusing to give up on me and on us, and for loving every single bit of me so whole-heartedly and sincerely. For everything that you've done for me today and everyday.

MUAHS.

❤

Pardon this video. It's from 2011, but I thought it was befitting to end this post with. Heheh.
Thank you for reading!

Yina says hi

Welcome to my blog! My name is Yina Goh, and I own online boutique The Velvet Dolls. I'm passionate about travel, fashion, food, beauty and music. I love photography and taking photos to document my everyday!

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